Parcelforce strike again

weasel

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They've only gone and smashed an AFA B-wing to bits.

What the **** do these guys do with parcels? Do they actually play football with them?

Back to their lovely claims people I go. I wonder will it be their fault his time? The box looks like it was used as a tackle mat for rugby training.
 

naughtyjedi

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Can you publish some pictures?

I recently mentioned using Smithers Pira on the podcast to maybe start to research the transport of afa graded goods. This is the initial email they sent me on my enquiry. These guys deal with distribution issues regularly and do extensive testing and research. I suggest as the collecting community we urge AFA to undertake proper ship testing.

Heres what SP gave me as a starter.

"Basically small parcels in post or courier shipment are exposed to pretty severe and mixed handling hazards. If you search you-tube for courier handling you'll start to get an impression of the sort of things you need to protect against.

A small pack in shipment will:

- regularly be dropped from 1m
- have other things (often heavier) dropped on it from 1m
- may even be thrown through the air if it goes through a manual sorting system

Basically you need to pack the products to survive these kind of events. A few ideal principals:

1: The product should be directly wrapped in a soft non-abrasive material to prevent surface scuffing (2mm PE foam is often used).
2: The product should be constrained so it can't move
3: It should be surrounded by a shock absorbing material which isolates the product from drops and impacts – the shock absorbing material shouldn't settle or become loose in transit – for a light product it needs to be soft or it will just transmit the shock without cushioning
4: The outer pack should resist top loads and impacts."
 

weasel

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****, you mean one sheet of brown paper wasn't enough protection!? :roll:

I've been buying and selling SW stuff for ten years, I THINK I know how to wrap it!
 

poncho

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i had a scare with parcelforce. wasnt my item but......

my neighbour chaz, has stuff delivered all the time, no idea what he buys, sometimes i sign for him as hes often visiting his wife in a carehome. last month i was in rush and a parcelforce van man asked me to 'sign for' as he wasnt in i said i was in hurry and couldnt..he huffed and and open his van and threw the package in the back of the van.... :shock: :?
 

naughtyjedi

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weasel said:
****, you mean one sheet of brown paper wasn't enough protection!? :roll:

I've been buying and selling SW stuff for ten years, I THINK I know how to wrap it!

Not sure you got the drift of my post, I mentioned Afa should look into the transportation of items (and give suitable recommendations based on research) and quoted what Smithers Pira have said from their experience on packing items to survive a courier. This shouldn't have to happen because they should take more care, but all they really care about is shoving as much stuff into the back of a van. Total wankers.

Sadly my experience of using couriers is dire. They are ****ing bastards. Ive pm'd you of what Ive seen first hand and I agree that the only way to get a valuable star wars item from here to a grader/buyer is to maybe encase into a hard foam lined metal case and tell them its a replacement heart for a transplant. They might actually give a **** then. Even then that may not protect an item if its encased in acrylic because the elements inside (like a figure on a bubble) can pop out in impact (courier throwing item into a hopper/his mate from a van, missing and item landing on concrete, packaging will be fine, but the impact force the item in the middle will take will not be enough to prevent the inertia of loose figure in bubble).

Theres actually no solution to it IMO, couriers are too high volume and would probably have to offer a stupidly high end service. Graders will have to visit homes and give the grading there.

Like I said, not criticising you, I'm pouring scorn on the couriers.
 

mr_palitoy

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weasel said:
They've only gone and smashed an AFA B-wing to bits.

What the **** do these guys do with parcels? Do they actually play football with them?

Back to their lovely claims people I go. I wonder will it be their fault his time? The box looks like it was used as a tackle mat for rugby training.

A work mate used to temp at the post office at Xmas. The older permanent members of staff used to encourage football with
the square football sized parcels marked FRAGILE.

Jason
 

aussiejames

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This is it?
10306453_931226753557522_7382354215387507615_n.jpg

Looks like it got run over :shock:
 

Cazza

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James, that box is ridiculous! Hopefully you'll get on better than I have. In the process of going through the final round of a claim. Basically bought a MOC from a very reputable seller on here. It was very well packed, but arrived with the bubble completely broken through at the top. There was also a dent in the box. The seller kindly helped me out with the claim forms etc. The figure was.insured for the full amount (around £55 Inc postage).

What did I get from Royal Mail? 6 1st class stamps :lol: Called them and they asked me to send pics. I explained I had already sent several large, annotated pics which I printed in colour and included with the claim forms, but apparently they hadn't received them. They asked me to email them again. Nothing. Phoned again and was told I'd have to send the item + original packaging. Got it back a couple of weeks later, but they argued the packaging wasn't up to scratch. Phoned them and had an incredibly frustrating conversation with a supervisor who wouldn't budge. He eventually conceded that the box had taken some sort of blow during transit, but still insisted the packaging was to blame. We had quite a conversation about the value of insured post, and that Royal Mail could easily tow a similar line with pretty much all cases to avoid paying up.

I have since sent it off to the independent postal review service who are the last option. It's been with them for a couple of weeks, but can take up to 30 days. Annoying, as they originally said they only wanted pics, so I sold the figure on Ebay for £33. I explained to the buyer, who is happy to wait until it is returned.

Royal Fail clearly hope people get frustrated and give up :( A sorry state of affairs. Our postal service used to be something to be proud of. It certainly isn't anymore!
image_zps789f77e6.jpg


image_zps92566bbf.jpg
 

edd_jedi

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A couple of years ago I sold a SNES on eBay and it arrived with a two-inch crack on the corner. It was inside both the original polystyrene box, and a bubble wrapped outer box. They must literally have body slammed it in to the floor to cause a crack like that! Luckily RM did pay out, but I guess it's easier to claim when the item is broken rather than the packaging.
 

weasel

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Here's some pictures of what it turned up looking like
 

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ZippyNL

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If it's any consolation (which it probably isn't, those pictures hurt), it's not just Parcelforce. A few years ago I won a beautiful MOC Tri Logo A Wing Pilot which was sent to me me in Holland from the UK. The seller did a bang up job packaging it; two boxes, bubble-wrap, polystyrene and "Fragile" stickers everywhere, and I'm pretty sure it made it out of England unscathed. Didn't matter in the end though - the thing arrived looking like it had been landed on by one of those weights that the coyote is always trying to crush Road Runner with.
 

chris_1989

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Had my own experience with royal mail about a year ago won a really nice Boba Fett on rotj card when it arrived they had somehow destroyed the original box so had put it in a bag with a sticker on it saying royal mail had to repackage it and my Fett now had a nice big hole in the bottom of the bubble. They are useless.
 
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